JaxChamber pushes for more business involvement in The Players Tournament in St. Johns County

Tim Darby For The Times-Union A huge crowd watches the tournament around the 17th hole last May during the second round of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach.

First Coast area business news

Subscribe to RSS headline updates from: Powered by FeedBurner

As The Players Championship golf tournament is fast approaching at TPC Sawgrass, JaxChamber officials Monday strengthened their pitch to get more regional business involvement in the golf event that’s expected to draw $151 million of economic impact to the Northeast Florida region.

“There is absolutely no better opportunity than one week in May to showcase our area and how great it is to a world audience,” said Matt Rapp, executive director of The Players.

Flanked by JaxChamber and other business officials at a news conference at the Chamber offices in Jacksonville Monday, Rapp said the golf event has grown in impact well beyond the borders of St. Johns County and Ponte Vedra Beach.

Rapp acknowledged that the event, which runs May 6-11, has a much greater local impact than he initially realized.

“I actually lived here for a number of years before taking over The Players Championship and didn’t really understand and appreciate all that Jacksonville is,” Rapp said.

Chamber figures indicate more than 400 businesses invest in The Players through corporate hospitality and ticket programs.

Vince McCormack, president of Jacksonville-based Perdue Office Interiors Inc., said his company has benefited from being part of The Players.

“We have been a huge supporter of The Players for many, many years,” McCormack said, noting Perdue often takes many of their clients to the golf tournament to show the company’s gratitude.

McCormack said the increased number of food and entertainment offerings at the tournament have enhanced the return on the money Perdue has put into The Players. Increased involvement by Perdue includes viewing locations with “soft seating” on the course in the area known as “The Turn,” which has views of both the 9th and 18th holes.

“It’s going to give us great exposure, not only to local companies that are attending The Players, but also for companies that may be bringing their customers to Jacksonville,” McCormack said. “Hopefully one day they’ll expand to Jacksonville and they’ll know Perdue and they’ll know we’re a great provider for them when they move their companies here.”

For the first time since the tournament began in 1977 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Rapp said, the 2013 event had more ticket purchases from outside the Northeast Florida area. Rapp said just over 50 percent of the estimated 174,000 fans attending The Players came from outside the five-county area of Duval, St. Johns, Nassau, Baker and Clay counties.

“This isn’t by accident, this has been a very concerted effort by a number of entities in town, including ourselves” Rapp said, adding The Players has partnered with tourist development offices in St. Johns and Duval.

“We’ve been doing promotions over the past three years through those outlets to encourage people to come,” Rapp said. “We’re also encouraging more and more companies here locally to leverage the event more aggressively as it relates to out-of-town guests. … The more of those folks come as guests of local companies, the more we can grow this economy.”

He said the growing scope of The Players will make it available to an estimated 1 billion households worldwide this year — which is up over the estimated 800 million households in 2013.

Mark Frisch, executive vice president of Jacksonville-based Beaver Street Fisheries, said his companies invested in a viewing deck behind the famed 17th hole on Sawgrass — that’s the green that’s essentially an island in the middle of a pond. Frisch said the deck will bear the logo for Sea Best, one of Beaver Street’s brands on a stage that few businesses can get.

“You’re literally almost on top of these guys teeing off on the 18th hole. It is spectacular,” Frisch said. “We’re excited about that and we’re going to be out there for at least two years.”

JaxChamber President Daniel Davis said it’s time to solidify regional involvement in the event. While it takes place in Ponte Vedra and St. Johns County, the Chamber is pushing for a First Coast partnership.

“We need to make sure to let the community know that they need to support The Players because, in turn, it’s going to help them,” Davis said. “Clearly, we have to understand that our community is a region. County lines don’t mean what they used to mean. …

“It’s grown bigger than just a Ponte Vedra event. It’s a Northeast Florida event and I think it’s become a global event. People want to come to Northeast Florida and enjoy not only Jacksonville but other areas of the coast.”

That regional embrace of The Players is already underway, Frisch said.